Profanal - Supreme Fire (2016)

Profanal sounded to me like a type of medication and if that's to be the case, then these Italian death metallers have made a pill that will burn immensely as it heads down your throat, resulting in severe convultions and heavy bouts of vomiting. According to Metal Archives, Profanal can be compared to the likes of Dismembered, Entombed a little defunct band called Nirvana 2002 (now Under The Church) and Funeral Whore. They're closely related to Sweden's Dismember however, with the Entombed influence being their earliest work. They definitely know how to play revolting death metal, with all the heat and warmth of yesteryear, jam-packed with guitar solos and literal riffs that you'll actually remember. Supreme Fire sounds like it came out during the heyday of death metal and is definitely a disc you want to get your hands on, just for the sheer amount of work put into the performance. The frontwoman's vocals are absolutely scathing, coupled with pounding drums and bass, along with dozens of bloodcurdling riffs that simply reek of this stuff. The only issue that I had with this disc is going to surprise most of you, being that it is the less than a minute acoustic instrumental “Across Death's Path.” It is literally just a small acoustic number that does nothing more than to take away from such a fearsome performance. I feel that a lot of heads are going to be upset that there's a slight break in the slaughter and I'd definitely skip that cut every chance I got. Maybe they should have placed it at the end, where it wouldn't have taken away from the classic feel they were going for. When you're listening to a cohesive and absolutely unrelenting experience like this, (it's just plain classic) you don't want any frilly pieces getting in the way. If they were going for more experimentation, I could understand – but I'm just not getting that from Profanal right now. Cutting that piece out of the mix, you still have a solid thirty-five minutes of solid death metal and I'm not going to complain about that. Still worth a listen, and I think you'll enjoy it regardless of the acoustic hiccup.

(9 Tracks, 36:00)

8/10